Return of the Smooth Operator

She's back..... Sade, the ultra slinky looking
singer that captivated audiences in the 1980's
with her sultry rendition of Smooth Operator,
has a new album out. The album is called "Soldier of Love" and it's title
cut have both gone #1 on Billboard Magazine's
top 100 list. It is a major accomplishment for
Sade, who was last in the recording studio in
the year 2000. That is not to say she has not been
busy. She has been working on her singing while
gardening at her home. At the age of 51 she has never
looked better and is happier now than ever before.
She makes her home in England, but still travels
to her native Nigeria, where her father was a
college professor.

• Nearly 10 years after the group's last studio effort, Sade's "Soldier of Love" conquers the Billboard 200, blasting in at No. 1 with 502,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That's the act's first No. 1 debut and its best sales week since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991. On top of that, it's the best sales week for an album by a group since AC/DC's "Black Ice" bulldozed in at No. 1 on the Nov. 8, 2008, chart with 784,000. • "Soldier" is Sade's second No. 1 album. Its first, "Promise," spent two weeks at the top in 1986. • The new album is the first studio effort from the band—led by vocalist Sade Adu—since "Lovers Rock" was released in November 2000. That set debuted and peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with 370,000 sold in its first week. Since its release, "Lovers Rock" has sold 3.9 million in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. • The new album is Sade's sixth studio set, stretching back to its "Diamond Life" debut in 1985. All told, the act has notched eight top 10 albums in a row on the Billboard 200—its entire recorded output. That total comprises its six studio sets, one greatest-hits collection ("The Best Of") and one live recording ("Lovers Live"). • With that feat of eight top 10s, Sade is the first group since Led Zeppelin to see their first eight charting albums all reach the top 10. Led Zep actually did it with its first 10 albums—from 1969 with its self-titled No. 10-peaking set, up until 1983 when "Coda" topped out at No. 6.